Tag: toddler

My army of tiny people has formed a coalition. They have tag teamed. They are working together to try to break me. The boy and the babog, they are clever. Not clever enough it seems, though. I’m on to them.(more…)

Before I became a mammy I secretly judged parents who put their kids in harnesses because you think you know it all, how wrong was I? Foolishly I believed it was lazy parenting, like how hard is it to teach a child the rules of the road and to hold your hand. (more…)

RoundySquares is Irish business run by yummy mummy Stephanie, whom handcrafts organic cotton hats for babies and toddlers. Stephaine ‘became a Mama with a Mission to make a snug, warm, soft, cute and colourful hat that stays on little wriggly heads’ having struggled to find the perfect hat for her little babog, since then her idea and business venture grew and grew. (more…)

So you wants kids, lots of them, little cute ribboned munchkins running around your home all gleeful. Think you are ready? I’ve compiled a list of things you should try to prepare yourself for parenthood or toddlerhood, cause that’s when it all begins. It’s a breeze till they start walking and talking in my opinion. I think I’ve covered everything but as always if I’m missing something let me know in the comments below.(more…)

Farm friends is an interactive vibrant book that parents can bring to life. It allows children to maintain full eye contact and see the correct pronunciation of words as parents look through the hole and read a rhyme featured in a fold down flap which is only visible to the reader.

Author Debora Tobin came up with the innovative idea when she struggled to get her own children to sit and listen during story time. She decided to bring a whole new experience to reading. She wanted storytime to be fun with a baby or toddler.

The book is made from durable flexible card with a high gloss shine and 50% of the profits from the book go to charity Bee For Battens.

The book has been in our possession a few months now. It would definitely one of my top five baby and toddler books for the educational and interactive fun factor. We recently introduced it to Frankie and he thinks it’s hilarious. Kayla reads it to him sometimes too, she actually knows most of the rhymes by heart now, just shows how much we actually read it.

If you buy one book for your little babog this year, it’s got to BEE this one!!

Kayla’s Review

I love Bee the Book. My mammy looks so funny with wings, wool and four legs. She sometimes makes up her own funny stories. Frankie thinks mammy is so funny too, she always makes funny noises and silly faces. I read it to him too. I’ve never seen a bee on a farm though, my mammy says that’s because I’ve never looked for one. So next I go to the farm in Wexford I’m going to look for bee’s.

Bee The Book – Farm Friends is €9.99 and available to buy HERE. I also have a discount code; use MYLITTLEBABOG at the checkout to receive 20% off.

I also have a book to giveaway to one of my lucky readers. To enter LIKEBee The Books on Facebook and COMMENT on this post. Competition closes Tuesday 3rd of March.

Goodluck!!

Disclaimer: I was giving this product for reviewing purposes. This does not affect my honest opinion.

Last month I started over obsessing about Frankie’s sleeping patterns, ranting and raving like a woman possessed to anyone who would listen. I was pacing the floor past midnight, he was disrupting the entire house, even Tinkerbell our lab was creeping through the house at all hours. I spent more time rocking, cradling, and searching for soothers than I did feeding, cooking and cleaning throughout the day

Kayla never slept through the night until she was nine months old, so sleepless nights wasn’t unusual. Frankie started following Kayla’s footsteps so I got books, searched the internet, tried co-sleeping and got advice from friends, family and strangers. Nothing seemed to work and I ended up stuck in a rut of answering his demands and needs immediately.

Kayla didn’t want to be around me because I was in such bad form. Her sleep was also being disrupted, one night she shouted ‘just shut him the hell up’ and another ‘just give him his bloody soother’, she was starting to resent her baby brother. My relationship was being jeopardized with my first born because I couldn’t get my little babóg to sleep at night. I did not want to play, I did not want to do leave the house, I wanted to hide behind the curtains and watch movies all day.

I was blathering over on my Twitter page and one morning a lovely lady, Niamh O’Reilly, a sleep expert from The Nursery, answered my cries. I proceeded to tell her our routine, only to discover we did not have one. Frankie was over sleeping during the day, I let him dictate, he slept when he wanted during the day, sometimes waking only for feeds or a soother. I assumed some babies slept 18 hours a day at five months. You would think on your second child you would have everything to perfection, I allowed Frankie to take the lead, responding to his demands, allowing him to eat, sleep and play when he wanted.

Niamh designed a structured routine for us and recommended to stay relatively strict for the first few days. Frankie wasn’t impressed, he was now napping in his cot, woken according to the schedule and breakfast, dinner and tea were now in my control.

Within two nights of following through with the firm routine Frankie slept from 7.30pm to 8.15am. I won’t lie I got an awful fright the first morning, I dived into his room to check his status, he was lying their cooing and content, it was so refreshing. Me and Kayla had celebratory pancakes for breakfast, we went the park, we baked cakes and I finally retained and enjoyed much needed one-on-one time with her.

Each and every day that followed we shadowed Niamh’s routine, twerking it to suit school runs and other herrings, Frankie has consistently continued to sleep through every single night apart from the day he got his four month injections.

The biggest tip Niamh gave us was his dream feed. Every night at 10pm, I give him a bottle, avoiding eye contact, with no interaction or nappy change, once he’s finished the bottle he gets a kiss goodnight, his soother and I leave his room till morning.

I was so drained, I had almost accepted I got one of those babies who doesn’t sleep. If any of you are struggling with a baby or toddler to sleep at night I highly recommend Niamh from The Nursery. Niamh helped me regain my family’s life back with friendly, responsive and practical advice. Frankie no longer dictates his routine and I’m very confident our routine will continue with a few adjustments as he gets older.

At four months Frankie didn’t seem satisfied solely on bottles, he started to wake up for feeds throughout the night and was taking a lot of interest in our food and sucking his pudgy little hands, so regardless of recommendations of midwives, public health nurses and the likes I decided to start weaning Frankie earlier than the six months. It is advised to start a baby on solids when they are six-months due to development and nutritional reasons.

I suppose due to these ‘rules’ administered by health care officials I wasn’t very prepared for weaning, I had no high chair, baby spoons or water-proof bibs. I decided I wanted everything organic, homemade, full of nutritious ingredients although on a few occasions I have given him puree fruit pots, they are so handy if you are out and about or if your homemades haven’t fully defrosted by snack time.

It’s so true, the nutrition baby receives in their first year will impact on their eating habits for the rest of their lives. I look at Kayla my first born, who eats dinners solely of mash, carrots and gravy. She is a very fussy eater and that is due to my poor diet I inflicted on her in the first years. It’s something I regret immensely, since then I have changed my attitude to parenting and put my her needs before my own. Over the past year Kayla has grew a love for fruit, all fruit, so her eating habits are slowly improving. If I had of introduced all the beautiful foods there are out there sooner maybe she wouldn’t be so picky.

I decided Frankie’s first meal would be a taste of porridge, something easy and simple to make, although it didn’t happen that way. The texture was nothing like my Nana’s, it resembled gloop and had the consistency of tar. He gagged, he heaved, he cried, he projectile-spat across the room, It was a big FAIL! So maybe porridge wasn’t the best decision but you have to learn these things for yourself. You have to find what works for you and your baby.

Frankie’s first spoon feed

When he learnt to swallow food we moved onto sweet potato, carrots and butternut squash. It wasn’t until I started cooking up a storm in the kitchen that I realised all his food was orange. So as the days and weeks went by, I started introducing more food like parsnips, peas and chicken all pureed of course. He took some time accepting some of the new flavours, he would spit the food allover the room but I never gave up. He loves his food; now that I’m offering a huge variety.

Frankie is six months now and I have many worries about weaning, Kayla my four-year-old was allergic to eggs, lactose intolerant and it was around this age we discovered it. The fear of him choking on finger food also scares me, it’s natural to worry but I take it to another level. I have taken a course in First Aid to ease my anxieties.

I’m also very house proud, so when it comes to finger food I tend to opt for dry food like bread and toast, soon realising I was starting to follow my old weaning habits I had on Kayla. I’ve given in to my former ways and have given him mango, banana and cheese. I’m allowing him to explore, play and make all the mess that needs be for him to enjoy it.

Weaning is such an important part of babies’ development and I’m so proud I’ve changed my old ways and allowed him to mush, squish and squeeze these new textures and flavours whether it be into his hair, ears or nose. I won’t lie the mess can be frustrating but it’s harder to have a child who won’t eat vegetables and meat than clean up a baby after a fun meal-time.

Hi, I'm Kellie, an over-sharing Irish mammy of four (aged two, three, four and eight) who writes honest tales and parenting fails as a stay at home working parent. I'd describe myself as a mum bun wearer, professional cake eater and a coffee addict. I'm usually found bribing my kids with a custard cream, googling our next adventure or praying for Joe to get home.